The Great Unknown – The Keyhttp://thekey.xpn.org
Discover Philly's Best Local MusicFri, 16 Feb 2018 22:09:49 +0000en-UShourly1Tonight’s Concert Picks: DRGN King at PhilaMOCA, The Great Unknown at Johnny Brenda’s, XPN Welcomes Martin Sexton to The Landis Theater, Nightlands at Arden Gild Hallhttp://thekey.xpn.org/2013/02/02/tonights-concert-picks-drgn-king-at-philamoca-the-great-unknown-at-johnny-brendas-xpn-welcomes-martin-sexton-to-the-landis-theater-nightlands-at-arden-gild-hall/
http://thekey.xpn.org/2013/02/02/tonights-concert-picks-drgn-king-at-philamoca-the-great-unknown-at-johnny-brendas-xpn-welcomes-martin-sexton-to-the-landis-theater-nightlands-at-arden-gild-hall/#respondSat, 02 Feb 2013 15:01:40 +0000http://thekey.xpn.org/?p=67651Continued]]>Philly’s DRGN King are celebrating the release of Paragraph Nights tonight at PhilaMOCA. The full-length debut from the psychedelic power pop outfit was released through Bar / None Records on January 22nd and runs the gamut of infectiously good songwriting from the slick “Holy Ghost” to the party-ready “Wild Night.” More information for the all-ages show with Dangerous Ponies, Walking Shapes and Idle Idols can be found here. Stream Paragraph Nights here and watch DRGN King’s Dominic Angelella perform a solo, stripped-down version of “Holy Ghost” at Sofar Sounds from last weekend below.

The Great Unknown are also celebrating a record release tonight over at Johnny Brenda’s. The local five-piece are setting forth So Strange and Loud into the physical world, following the album’s digital release last May. With reflective melodies and intricate arrangements, the The Great Unknown strive to make connections with their audiences both through live performance and recorded material. Tickets and information for tonight’s 21+ show with KC Jones and Ali Wadsworth can be found here. Below, stream “The Laws of Energy” from So Strange and Loud.

XPN welcomes Martin Sexton to The Landis Theater tonight. The singer-songwriter is a quintessentially American musician, blending a variety of traditional playing styles including country, rock, gospel and R&B. Following up his 2010 LP Sugarcoating, Sexton released his Fall Like Rain EP last year. Both efforts come after his commercial breakthrough with 2007’s Seeds, which debuted at #6 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart. Tickets and information for tonight’s all-ages show with The Alternate Routes in Vineland, NJ can be found here. Below, watch Martin Sexton perform “Can’t Stop Thinking ‘Bout You” with John Mayer.

Dave Hartley continues his busy start to the year with a Nightlands show at the Arden Gild Hall tonight. The solo project of the War on Drugs’ bass player, Nightlands released its sophomore effort Oak Island last week. The album fuses Hartley’s affinity for mystery and sci-fi with rollicking melodies and percussion, creating layer upon layer of rich textures through overdubbing and tape machine manipulation. Hartley spoke with ArtInfo recently to share some of his recording techniques and tricks; read the full interview here. Tickets and information for tonight’s show with School of Seven Bells can be found here. Below, watch the video for “I Fell In Love With a Feeling.”

]]>http://thekey.xpn.org/2013/02/02/tonights-concert-picks-drgn-king-at-philamoca-the-great-unknown-at-johnny-brendas-xpn-welcomes-martin-sexton-to-the-landis-theater-nightlands-at-arden-gild-hall/feed/0Download Sounds From the West from local multi-instrumentalist KC Jones (playing Johnny Brenda’s on 2/2)http://thekey.xpn.org/2013/01/19/download-sounds-from-the-west-from-local-multi-instrumentalist-kc-jones-playing-johnny-brendas-on-22/
http://thekey.xpn.org/2013/01/19/download-sounds-from-the-west-from-local-multi-instrumentalist-kc-jones-playing-johnny-brendas-on-22/#respondSat, 19 Jan 2013 22:04:37 +0000http://thekey.xpn.org/?p=66146Continued]]>Drawing influences from Talking Heads, Spiritualized and local 20th century painter Andrew Wyeth, Philly’s KC Jones has created a body of work that continues to reveal its complex nuances many listens in. 2012 saw the release of his RecklessEP, an exploration of drifting, ambient rock with some surprising instrumentation; the title track pairs the slow drawl of a violin and a pizzicato coda with a War on Drugs-esque bass line that Dave Hartley would be proud of. Throughout the EP, Jones’ vocals recall those of Tim Showalter (Strand of Oaks), with a weary but sturdy grasp on life and all its tribulations.

Moving forward to 2013, KC Jones released the full-length Sounds From the West just last week. West takes Jones’ sound in a new direction, moving from the electronic pop of lead track “So Sad” to the rock-structured “Hiding Behind Glass.” Named for Andrew Wyeth’s painting “Christina’s World,” West “follows a singular journey through the disconnect of life in a time of social and political strife.”

KC Jones will play Johnny Brenda’s on Saturday, February 2nd with The Great Unknown (celebrating the release of So Strange and Loud) and Ali Wadsworth. Tickets and information for the 21+ show can be found here. Stream “I.O.U.D.” from Sounds From the West below and download the name-your-price album on Bandcamp here.

]]>http://thekey.xpn.org/2012/09/04/download-the-key-studio-sessions-vol-5-feat-the-spinto-band-turning-violet-violet-heyward-howkins-more/feed/0Photo Recap: 2nd Street Festival with Man Man, The Great Unknown, Lushlife and morehttp://thekey.xpn.org/2012/08/06/photo-recap-2nd-street-festival-with-man-man-the-great-unknown-lushlife-and-more/
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The fourth annual 2nd Street Festival took over a bustling strip of Northern Liberties yesterday afternoon, filling some ten blocks with artists, crafters, local food vendors, and lots of music. Check out the gallery above for a photo recap of the street fair action, along with performances at The Piazza at Schmidts by Lushlife, The Great Unknown and Man Man – who wrapped up their early evening carnivalesque set just before storm clouds descended and the skies opened.
]]>http://thekey.xpn.org/2012/08/06/photo-recap-2nd-street-festival-with-man-man-the-great-unknown-lushlife-and-more/feed/0Download Digest: This week’s best free music, incl. Matthew E. White, Family Band, Sun Airwayhttp://thekey.xpn.org/2012/08/05/download-digest-this-weeks-best-free-music-incl-matthew-e-white-family-band-sun-airway/
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Photo by Shawn Brackbill

Here at The Key, we toss a fair heaping of free downloads your way, so it’s completely understandable if you miss a few. Here are our top five bits of digital music from the past week:

Richmond, Virginia musician Matthew E. White is releasing his album Big Inner on Hometapes/Spacebomb Records on August 21st, and plays the TLA on Oct. 11 with The Mountain Goats. This week, his song “Big Love” was a My Morning Download, and you can get it below.

On the heels of making an XPoFest splash a couple weeks ago (and tearing up The Barbary last week), Work Drugs released another track for free download from their album Absolute Bearing. Download “The Art of Progress” below – the band says it was “originally written in 1994 as a response to U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signing the Kremlin accords.” You can also watch the music video here; Work Drugs next plays Philadelphia on Aug. 31 at Johnny Brenda’s.

Family Band celebrated the release of its excellent new record Grace and Lies this week by playing the First Unitarian Church’s side chapel, recording a Live at the World Cafe session and appearing live on the air for XPN2’s Folkadelphia. You can download their Folkadelphia performance of “Ride” below.

Northern Liberties’ 2nd Street Festival is going on today, and one of the great Philly bands playing the main stage at the Pizza at Schmidt’s is The Great Unknown, who were spotlighted in last week’s Key Studio Session. Download their performance of “Borrowed and Temporary” below, and catch them this afternoon at 4:15.

As anticipation for their new record Soft Fall builds, Sun Airway released a mixtape on Wednesday that blends Bartok, Boards of Canada and The Chemical Brothers.